Aug 30, 2007
Re: Flights over Darien
Klein wants you to e-mail Washington
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First Selectman Evonne Klein wants you to take 10 minutes this week to oppose the Federal Aviation Administration’s plan to reroute more air traffic over Darien and Fairfield County.
“If people could take 10 minutes out of their schedules over the next four days to send an e-mail to Washington officials to show that we oppose the redesign, it would help immensely,” Klein told The Darien Times this week.
“Many of us are questioning the data presented in the plan,” Klein said of the FAA’s proposal to reroute traffic into and out of New York metropolitan airports “We are also disappointed that noise mitigation measures have not been presented. This proposed redesign threatens our quality of life not only in Darien, but also in our neighboring towns.”
Klein said that thousands of e-mails “need” to go to Washington, D.C., “so that we will be heard. Some residents have sent e-mails to our congressman and our two U.S. senators, but we need more help to see a better resolution in dealing with the increase number of flights and their impact on the southwestern region of the state.”
The redesign is being done to accommodate the Newark, N.J., airport. To do this, the FAA is shifting air traffic east, into Connecticut. As part of the Integrated Airspace Alternative Variation with Integrated Control Complex, the redesign option the FAA endorsed in March, planes arriving at LaGuardia would shift about 30 miles to the east, moving traffic from Putnam County, N.Y., to Fairfield County.
Meanwhile, planes departing Westchester County Airport would make a sharp turn after takeoff and make much of their initial climb over the airport, which borders Greenwich.
Opponents of the redesign say both changes would create major noise and environmental disturbances, diminishing both quality of life and property values.
At an April public hearing in Stamford, Steve Kelley, program manager for the redesign, said the proposal doesn’t create any noise increases considered “significant” by the federal government.
“According to the FAA definition, it is not significant,” Klein said after that hearing. “However it is significant to us.”
Kelley said the redesign is meant to increase efficiency at airports throughout the heavily congested Northeast corridor, shaving an average of six minutes off of all departing flights.
“Do I believe it’s going to impact your lives? Yes,” Kelley said at the hearing. “I don’t believe we’re doing anything to diminish your qualify of life.”
Along with local officials, U.S. Rep. Chris Shays has been working on the redesign issue for the past year. His attempts to get the FAA to hold another public hearing in the area was denied earlier this month. But he is trying again.
“I’ve been doing more than almost any other member of Congress,” Shays, a Republican representing most of Fairfield County, said at a press conference Thursday, Aug. 23, when asked about the redesign.
“Because we didn’t want politics to interfere with flight travel, we have created one of the most arrogant organizations that you could possibly imagine,” he said, calling the FAA a “unique breed.”
His request that the FAA hold a public hearing in the Stamford area, upon completion of its Final Environmental Impact Statement, was denied Aug. 10. The public hearing held in April fulfilled the organization’s legal obligations.
“Well that’s not the end of it. We’re going to do our best to have a hearing,” he said, adding that he will soon travel to Boston to speak with FAA officials.
“I think they want to railroad through their proposal,” he said, considering the FAA’s denial.
Last Thursday, Shays renewed this request in a letter to FAA Administrator Marion C. Blakey.
“I am surprised it took two months to respond to my request for a public forum and doubly surprised that my request was denied,” he wrote. “I had every reason to believe it would be honored since I simply asked that residents have their concerns heard by you or other FAA personnel. These are residents, of course, who will have negatively impacted quality of life and home values because of the absence of mitigation strategies proposed for western Fairfield County under the Integrated Airspace Alternative.”
Shays has been called by his office an “outspoken critic of the proposal,” saying the plan fails to account for the quality of life impact on communities below the proposed routes.
His attempt — alongside two New Jersey Republican representatives — to block funding for the plan in July failed to win House approval by a 65-360 vote.
Darien’s two state senators are also calling on the FAA to allow more public comment on the redesign plan.
On Wednesday, Sens. Bob Duff of Norwalk and Andrew McDonald of Stamford, both Democrats, said their request came in response to concerns from area constituents. Both men represent parts of Darien.
“Over the previous months, we have heard from numerous constituents who will be adversely impacted by the proposed routing of these flights,” Duff and McDonald wrote in a letter to FAA Administrator Marion C. Blakey. “Allowing these individuals to air their grievances in the appropriate forum before the proper officials will enable them to participate in a process that directly impacts their quality of life.”
Critics of the redesign plan have found it unreasonable because it fails to take quality of life issues into account, a press release from the senators said. “The FAA plan has not considered alternative routes over less-populated areas and has not set restrictions on minimum altitude for aircraft traveling in the new routes. The FAA has also denied requests to receive further public comment on the airspace redesign.”
In their letter to the FAA, Duff and McDonald wrote: “Given the extreme impact this airspace redesign program plan potentially will have on area residents, it seems only fair that they be given ample opportunity to voice their concerns regarding the estimated maximum of 70 daily commercial flights that will be redirected over their property.”
Washington e-mails
U.S. Rep. Chris Shays (R): rep.shays@mail.house.gov.
U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd (D): Contact Mark Stephanou, director of constituent services, at mark.stefanou@dodd.senate.gov.
U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I): casework@lieberman.senate.gov.
Additional reporting by Laura Kenyon, New Canaan Advertiser assistant editor.
E-mail Darien Times editor Joshua Fisher at editor@darientimes.com.
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
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